Armature for dynamoelectric machines



May 16, 1944. ALLEN 2,348,948

ARMATURE FOR DYNAMO-ELECTR IC MACHINES Original Filed July 26, 1940 '7 Sheets-Sheet l May 16, 1944. c ALLEN 2,348,948

ARMATURE FOR DYNAMO-ELECTRIC MACHINES Original Filed July 26, 1940 7 Sheets-Sheet 2 y 6, 1944. E. c. ALLEN 2,348,948

ARMATURE FOR DYNAMO-ELECTRIC MACHINES Original Filed July 26, 1940 7 Sheets-Sheet 3 4 jmw/zzzn/ May 16, 1944. E. c. ALLEN 2,348,948

ARMATURE FOR DYNAMO-ELECTRIC MACHINES Original Filed July 26, 1940 7 Sheets-Sheet 4 INVENTOR -42! ATTORNEY? May 16, 1944. E. c. ALLEN ARMATURE FOR DYNAMO-ELECTRIC MACHINES Original Filed July 26. 1940 7 Sheets-Sheet- 5 INVENTOR M 9 8 ATTORNEY May 16, 1944. E. c. ALLEN 2,348,948

ARMATURE FOR DYNAMO-ELECTRIC MACHINES Original Filed July 26, 1940 '7 Sheets-Sheet 6 XNVENTOR ATTORNEW May 16, 1944. E. c. ALLEN 2,348,948

ARMATURE FOR DYNAMO-ELECTRIC MACHINES Original Filed July 26, 1940 7 Sheets-Sheet. 7

INVENTOR 7441 ATTORNEY Patented May 16, 1944 1 2,348,948 ARMATUBE Foa mmmonmorarc MACHINE Ernest 0. Allen, Rochester, N. Y., assignor to General Motors Corporation, Detroit, Micln, a corporation of Delaware Original application July 26, 1940, Serial No.

347,707, now Patent No. 2,306,855, dated December 29, 1942. Divided and this application September 7, 1942, Serial No. 457,604

scams. (01. 242-13) This invention relates to the manufacture of armatures for dynamo-electric machines.

This application is a division of Serial No. 347,707, flied July 26, 1940, nowPatent No. 2,306,855, issued December 29, 1942.

It is an object of the invention to wind an armature coil, to connect it with a commutator bar and then continue to' wind the next coil without cutting the wire. In other words, the armature will have a series of coils of one continuous length of wire and connected with the proper commutator bars. In accomplishing this object, I provide each commutator bar with a riser tang in the form of a, hook. Before starting towind any of the armature coils, I pass the start lead around the hook and then wind turns of wire upon the armature core to complete the coil. coil is passed around the next commutator bar hook and the-winding continues as before until all of the coils have been wound. If only one armature were required, obviously the wire would be cut and the loose ends of the series of armature coils would be fastened to commutator bar tangs by twisting the wire around the tangs. In production, however, where a large number of armatures of the same specifications are being wound, it is not necessary for-the winder to cut the wires between successive coils, as the severing of the wires Joining the armatures can be performed by another operator.

The armature coil wire may be insulated with any material but preferably by insulating varnish. After the winding of an armature, a rotary brush having wire bristles is applied to the commutator bar tangs to remove at least part of the insulation of those portions of the wires which pass around the commutator bar tangs. Then the bared wire and the tangs are iiuxed and soldered.

A further object of the invention is to provide a machine by which this method of winding may be carried out. In order to provide a balanced armature, the machine is provided with two winding heads so as to wind in a single operation two symmetrically disposed armature coils. The machine provides means for preventing engagement of the wires with any of the commutator bar hooks except those hooks around which passes the end lead of a preceding coil and the start lead of a succeeding coil. The winding machine provides means for indexing the core into various positions after the armature coils are wound and before proceeding to wind the next succeeding coils. This indexing of the ar- The end lead of the completed mature so locates the wire to be wound that a preceding wound coil and the start lead of a succeeding coil to be woundwill be engaged by the exposed commutator bar hook as the winding of the first turn of a new coil is begun. However, the means which leaves only certain commutator bar hooks exposed is so constructed and arranged as to prevent all succeeding turns of an armature coil from engaging even the exposed commutator bar hook. Further objects and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the following description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings wherein a preferred embodiment of the present'invention is clearly shown.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is aperspective view of an armature which is constructed in accordance with the present invention.

Fig. 2 is an element of the coil winding machine which is used to cover up all commutator bar hooks except those which are to receive por= tions of wires which form the end lead of a preceding coil and the start lead of a succeeding coil.

Fig. 3 shows the armature of Fig. 1 and the device of Fig. 2 in partly assembled relation.

Fig. 4 is. a perspective view showing the act of placing an empty armature upon the machine.

Fig. 5 is a perspective view of the machine.

heads of the machine with an armature sup ported between them, the sectional part being taken on the line 8-4! of Fig. 10.

Fig. 9 is a sectional view on lined-8 of Fig. 8.

Fig. 10 is a plan or top view of the winding heads shown in Fig. 8.

Fig. 11 is a sectional view on line Ii--ii of Fig. 8.

Fig. 12 is a sectional view on line I2-ii of Fig. 10.

Fig. 13 is a view in the direction of the arrow l 3 of Fig. 8.

Fig. 14 is a view in the direction of the arrow l4 of Fig. 8.

The winding machine comprises two aligned tubular shafts 20 and 2| which are rotated in opposite directions, shaft 20 being rotated clockwise as viewed in Fig. 13 or in the direction of the arrow 13 of Fig. 8 whereas the shaft 2| rotates counterclockwise as viewed in this direction. Shaft 20 is rotatably connected with a clamping hub :2, split at 23 in order that this hub may be constricted by a bolt 24 and a nut 25 and thus caused tightly to clamp the threaded portion of the tube 20. A lock washer 26 is also employed to aid in the secure fastening of the hub 22 to the tube 20. The hub 22 is integral with a winding arm 21 supporting a groove pulley'ZB. Hub 22 supports a grooved pulley 29 around which the wire 30 passes in the manner shown in Fig. 8.

Hub 22 extends at 222: within the inner race 3| of a ball bearing 32, said inner race being attached to part 220: by screw 33. The outer race 34 of bearing 32 is mounted within a recess provided by a winding head 35 and is retained by a ring 36 secured to head 35 by screws 31. Head 35 is provided with inclined surfaces 38 for guiding the wire into proper slots S of an armature core C mounted on a shaft D and upon which is mounted a commutator B having commutator bars each having a riser tang hook T. The head 35 provides a recess 39 for receiving a portion of the armature core C and covering four of its core teeth. Head 35 carries a detent plunger 40, urged by spring 4| against said core teeth as shown in Figs. 8 and 12 in order to yieldingly retain the core in various positions in which it is located by an indexing mechanism to be described later. Plunger 40 prevents counterclockwise rotation of armature core C.

The armature assembly and the winding head 35 do not rotate during the winding operation. Only the tubular shaft 20 and winding arm 21 rotate in order to wind a coil of wire into those slots in alignment with the surface 38 of the head 35. The machine, which rotates the shaft 20, is provided with automatic means for stopping rotation of the shaft 20 after a predetermined number of turns of wire are wound upon the armature. In order that the wire guiding head 35 may remain in loading position while loading the work it is frictionally connected with arm 21 by a brake which includes a brake drum provided by hub 42 of the head 35 and a pressure pad 43, urged by leaf spring 44 against the drum. Spring 44 is fastened to the hub 22 by a screw 45 and a nut 46.

The shaft 21 supports and drives a hub 22a integral with the winding arm similar in construction to the hub 22 and the winding arm 21. The parts driven by the shaft 2| are therefor identified by the reference numerals applied to those parts driven by the shaft 20, but

with the aflixed a following the reference numerals. as

The hub member Ma corresponding to hub 42 of winding head 35 is integral with a plate 45 attached by screws 49 to a winding head 50 having a recess 5! for receiving a portion of the armature core C and enclosing four of its core teeth. Head 50 provides surfaces 52 by which a wire is guided into those core slots which are in alignment with the surfaces 52. The head is provided with a T-shaped groove 53 covered by the plate 48 on the right side as viewed in Fig. 12 and covered by a top plate 54. The groove 53 receives a block 55 carrying a cross-pin 55 pivotally supporting an indexing dog 51 having a tooth 58 adapted to be received between the adjacent core teeth of the core. The block 55 is provided with laterally extending lugs 59 which are apertured to receive bolts 60, threadedly connected at their upper ends with the plate 54 and locked in adjusted position by nuts 61. Springs 52 are received by the grooves 53 and surround the bolts 60 and engage the lugs 59 of block 55 in order to urge these lu'gs downwardly against the heads of the screws 60. Therefore, the block 55 is normally in the position shown in Fig. 12. In order to index the armatur core in a clockwise direction the operator, by pressing a pedal not shown, causes a rod 55 to move upwardly and engage the underside of the block 55 and cause the same to move upwardly until dog 51 strikes the head 52. During this movement of the block 55, the dog 51 will move into the position indicated at 51a to engage in the core slot in alignment with the upper surface 52 of head 55. When the operator releases the pedal which controls rod 65, rod 55 will descend, thereby permitting the springs 62 to move the block 55 downwardly in order to return the pawl 51 to its normal position and to cause the armature core to be indexed an angular distarice equal to the angle between the adjacent core slots as shown in Figs, 6 and 8.

The wire 30a which passes through the tubular shaft 2|, passes around guide pulley 29a and winding arm pulley 28a and is guided into the proper core slots as shown in Fig. 6 by the surfaces 52 of the head 50. Due to the operation of the two oppositely rotating winding arms 21 and 21a, the wires 30 and 30a are simultaneously wound upon the armature core C so that two coils are wound simultaneously upon the armatur core. These coils are symmetrically disposed with respect to the armature and are of the same length and have the same weight. When an armature having 10 slots such as shown in Fig. 8 has been wound, it will have five pairs of symmetrically disposed armature coils. Hence the armature will be in balance.

While being wound, the armature is supported not only by the winding heads 35 and 50 but also by the device which covers all the commutator bar hooks except those around which portions of wire are passed, said wires forming the end leads of preceding coils and start leads of succeeding coils. This device, designated in its entirety by numeral 10, is shown best in Figs. 2, 3 and 8; and will be designated hereafter as the commutator guard. The guard 10, is generally tubular in formation and has a central bore 1| for receiving a portion of th armature shaft D. It also provides a tubular recess 12 for receiving the commutator B and also with a counterbore 13 for; receiving the annular row of commutator riser tang hooks T. The exterior surface of the guard 10 is partly cylindrical but the exterior. of the end portion which receives the commutator D is frustoconical to provide a wire guiding surface 14. Diametrically opposite portions of A is being assembled with the guard 10.

notches 15 with a tang hook T as the armature The portions 16 of the guard adjacent the notches provide camming surfaces for directing the wire in the proper manner.

Fig. 4 shows the operator in the act of placing an empty armature between the winding heads 35 and 50. In order to facilitate the mounting between these heads, one of them may be moved away from the other in a direction axially of its driving shaft. Preferably the shaft is fixed against axial movement, but shaft 2| is so mounted that it can be axially moved in order to move the head 50 relative to the head 35. After the armature A is located between the heads and 50, it is pushed toward the guard 10 as far as the guard will permit, the guard being mounted on a fixed support 11. The armature is retained upon the guard 10, with its tang hooks T within the recess 13 of the guard, by a rod 80 carried by a movable support 8| which is caused to move against the end of the armature shaft D after the armature A has been mounted upon the guard 10 as shown in Fig. 10. No disclosure is made of the means for axially moving the shaft 2| or the rod 80, since these mechanisms form no part of the present invention. These movements may be coordinated if desired in order that one control lever or pedal may cause both the shaft 2| and the rod 80 to be retracted from the nonmovable head 35 and then be advanced simultaneously after the armature A has been mounted upon the guard 13.

After the armature has been mounted upon the guard 10 and the head and the rod 80 have been advanced to operating position, the operator manually inserts into certain slots of the empty armature core C the wires extending from the previously wound armature. This armature is shown at A in Fig. 6 and is guided by a chute 90 while descending into a suitable receptacle. These end leads are indicated at BI and 92. As the manipulation of these leads 9| and 92 and the winding of the wires 30 and 30a are identical, only the manipulation of the lead SI and winding of the wire 30 will be described in detail. The operator places the wire portion 9| in the slot SI, Fig. 5. As theresult of this procedure, the wire 30 leading from a supply reel through the tubular shaft 20 and passing around the guide pulleys 29 and 2B and then through the slot SI, will be caught on a tang hook T when the winding machine is power operated to cause the winding arm 21 to rotate clockwise as viewed in the direction of the arrow I00 in Fig. 5. The notch 15 of guard 10 is in such position that the exposed tang T will be the proper tang to be engaged by the wire. Then the wire is wound in the slots S2 and S6. As the winding arm 21 completes its first revolution, it locates the wire 30 in the position shown in Fig. 5. As the wire 30 is moved downwardly against the camming surface 16 of the guard 10, it avoids contact with the hook T. The surface 16 guides the wire in such a manner that the wire is caused to pile upon the end of the armature core as shown in Fig. 1.

The winding arm 21 continues to rotate until it is automatically stopped, following the winding of a predetermined number of turns of wire for each armature coil. Then the operator presses a pedal which elevates the rod 65 in order to raise the dog 51 to the position 51a and to compress hub B2.

segments preferably after assembly on shaft D' the springs 62. Then the operator releases the pedal which allows the rod 65 to descend and the springs '82 to expand to cause the dog 51 to return to its normal position which will cause clockwise rotation of the armature A so that slot S2 will be carried to the position normally occupied by slot 8!. This indexing of the armature changes the relation of the -wire 30 with respect to any hook which is exposed by the guard 10. Therefore, when starting to wind the next coil, that portion of the wire which extends from the last turn of the preceding coil passes around a tang hook T again before being wound upon the armature core. Therefore, the wire 30 will be a continuous wire joining all of the five coils which are wound on'the core by rotation of the winding arm 21. Between each one of these five coils there will be a portion of wire connected with a commutator tang hook. The wire 30a is similarly wound upon the core 0 by rotation of the winding arm 21a in a counterclockwise direction, looking in the direction of I00 in Fig. 5. The wire 30a will, therefore, be a continuous wire including five armature coils and portions of wire passed around commutator tang hooks. After each slot of the armature core has received active-coil-side-portions of two coils, the armature is completed and is removed from the machine and placed upon the chute 90.

After these armatures have collected in the chute or in a'receptacle at the bottom of the chute, they are severed from each other by cutting the continuous wires 30 and 30a which join them. The loose ends of the wires 30 and 30a are wound around proper tang hooks and the excess wire is trimmed off. Then the commutator risers are subjected to a rotary brush having wire bristles which remove the greater portion of the insulation of the wire (such as insulating enamel) adjacent each of the riser tang hooks T. The bared wire portions and the tangs are then fiuxed and soldered.

The commutator which is used is preferably of the form described and claimed in the patent of Vincent G. Apple 1,518,793. This commutator is formed from a single strip of sheet copper bent into cylindrical form and provided with tangs Bl (Fig. 11) which are embedded in a Bakelite This cylindrical band is divided into following the operation of soldering the wires to the tang hooks. The armature assembly is then placed in a lathe and the commutator surface is trimmed in order that it will be concentric with the armature shaft.

While the embodiments of the present invention as herein disclosed, constitute a preferred form, it is to be understood that other forms might be adopted, all coming within the scope of the claims which follows.

What is claimed is as follows:

1. A machine for winding an armature having a slotted core and a commutator mounted on a shaft, said commutatorhaving riser tang hooks located in an annular row around'the shaft comprising, in combination, a head for receiving the core and covering certain slots and providing surfaces for guiding wire turns into certain spaced slots, a rotary arm for directing the wire against the wire guiding surfaces of the head so that the wire turns will be laid in the slots and will be laid against the ends of the core and-on a side of the shaft, and means for supporting the shaft transversely of the axis of rotation of the rotary arm, said means including a commutator guard enclosing the commutator but provided, however, with a notch exposing that tang hook which is to be engaged by that wire portion which forms the end lead of a preceding coil and the start lead of a succeeding coil, said guard being so shaped as to permit the wire extending from the end of the preceding coil to the winding arm to be caught by the exposed tang hook as the arm turns to start the winding of the next succeeding coil, and said guard having a wire guiding surface to direct the end leads of each turn of the coil then being wound, away from the exposed tang hook.

2. A machine for winding coils in symmetrical pairs upon a slotted armature core mounted on a shaft carrying a commutator provided with riser tang hooks in an annular row around the shaft comprising, in combination, winding heads having complementary recesses for receiving the core and for covering certain slots and providing surfaces for guiding wire turns into certain spaced slots, the number of exposed slots being the same on both sides of the shaft, oppositely rotatable rotary arms for guiding two wires, respectively, against the wire guiding surfaces of the heads so that the pairs of wire coils will be symmetrically disposed within the core slots and will be laid symmetrically against the core ends on opposite sides of the armature, and means for'supporting the shaft transversely of the axis of rotation of the rotary arms, said means in cluding a commutator guard enclosing the commutator but provided, however, with diametrically opposite notches exposing those tang hooks which are to be engaged by those wire portions which are to form the end leads of preceding coils and the start leads of succeeding coils, said guard being so shaped as to permit the wires extending from the ends of the preceding coils to the respective winding arms to be caught by the respective exposed tang hooks as the arms turn to start the winding of the next succeeding coils, and said guard having wire guiding surfaces to direct the end leads of each turn of the coils, then being wound, away from the exposed tang hooks.

3. For use with an armature winding machine having a winding head for covering certain slots of an armature core and having surfaces for guiding wire turns into certain spaced slots having a rotatable winding arm, a device for supporting an armature assembly with its shaft at right angles to the axis of rotation of the winding arm, said device comprising a guard for receiving a portion of the armature shaft and providing a recess for enclosing a commutator on the shaft, said commutator having an annular row of riser tang hooks around the shaft, said guard providing a notch for exposing only that tang hook which is to engage that portion of the wire which provides the end lead of a preceding coil and the start lead of a succeeding coil, said guard being so shaped that the wire extending from the end of the preceding coil to the winding arm will engage the exposed hook as the arm turns, and said guard having a wire guiding surface for directing the end leads of each coil turn of the coil, then being wound, away from the exposed tang hook.

ERNEST C. ALLEN. 

